Officials are probing how a 51-year-old highway bridge came to collapse in the Italian port city of Genoa yesterday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 16 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

Lorna Jane Clarkson claims the critics who slammed her job advertisement for a combined fit model and receptionist “didn’t read the ad”.

When asked by the emcee at a breakfast launch for her new book in Brisbane, which was closed to media, whether she had any regrets about the ad, the fitness wear mogul said the backlash had been fuelled by people who read the comments only.

“My regret is that the people talking about the ad didn’t read it, they just read the heading, and then I feel, I mean I don’t actually know what they were thinking, but I feel like they just read it, then someone made a comment, then they were reading the comments rather than actually taking the time to read the job description,” she said.

The company advertised for the combined role at its Brisbane office. (www.lornajane.com.au) (www.lornajane.com.au)

The ad, which specified required body measurements, was hastily taken down earlier this week after accusations it was a guise to employ an attractive, size eight receptionist and discriminated against other women.

Ms Clarkson said she had simply merged two part-time positions into a full-time role because their fit model was leaving.

The ad was taken down after it was lambasted online, however the company insisted they had received an "overwhelming" number of applications. (Supplied) (Supplied)

“Well you know, it was just that we had two part-time positions available. We had a part-time receptionist, and our fitness model that we were using at the time was going overseas, so I just thought, why don’t we combine these roles so that Lorna Jane is more important to this person, and we can give someone a full time job,” she said.